Echoes
by Icey the Fox
Summary: The untold story of Team Nine, from formation, to the Chuunin Exams, to their final shattering. The three members the sound crafter, the chain wielder, and the illusion bender. Come, their war is beginning.
1. Genin

_I can do this, I know that I can do this. It's way too easy… _the young boy thought quietly to himself. Of course, his personal abilities had always sided more with nin- and tai- than genjutsu, but he would pull it off anyways.

"_Bunshin no jutsu_!" he said clearly, feeling the chakra rush through his veins.

He felt a slight tug at that reserve of energy, and then, a puff of smoke surrounded him. He stood there with his hands still in seal position, waiting for the cloud to pass…

Once it did, he looked slowly up, and was releaved to find two perfect versions of himself, smiling back at him.

Suzunaka grinned triumphantly, and looked over to the table where Iruka-sensei sat.

"Well done, Suzunaka!" the instructor praised him. "As to be expected, of course."

"Thank you, sensei!" the boy replied, enjoying the praise. He had never been the type to deny a compliment if it was offered. The young boy walked over to the table across the room, and stood as straight backed as he could before his sensei.

"Well, you have definitely earned this," the adult told him, and the look of pride in his eyes made Suzunaka want to melt with happiness. "I present you with your forehead protector, genin, with the hope that you will continue to grow."

Suzunaka reached forward slowly, his hand shaking. Slowly, it clasped around the piece of black fabric, and he lifted it up. Taking the other end of the fabric in his hand, Suzunaka reached behind his head to knot it in place. He felt the metal pressing at his forehead, but not uncomfortably. No, quite the opposite. It felt like it had been meant to sit there, on his head, and his head alone.

"I won't let you down, sensei."

Suzunaka walked by the other dozen or so who were waiting in line, head held high so that they could all see his new forehead protector. It was heavy, lying there, but he didn't mind. No, he didn't mind at all.

The boy managed to hold his excitement in until after he stepped out the large front doors of the academy. He walked slowly across the school yard, approaching the one swing hanging there. Then, unable to contain himself, he jumped forward, over the swing, and landed in a roll, letting out a whoop of excitement.

He had done it! He was an official ninja of Konoha!

As he came back up to his feet, he started running, just for the joy of it. Laughing, he hopped the fence, and then sped into the street, tearing a path at random. There weren't many people out at current, what with it being the middle of a Thursday, so he had very little trouble just running.

He went for several minutes, occasionally bursting into random fits of laughter or jumping into the air just for the heck of it, before he finally reached where he was going. Rounding a corner, he went up to the door of a small house, and, taking a deep breath, he knocked.

It would take a while for an answer. He knew that already. It always took him a long time to answer the door. What he did in that house, Suzunaka would never know.

Taking the time to his advantage, Suzunaka looked at his reflection in the glass of the window, and grinned. The black of the band on his forehead protector nearly blended in with the incredibly dark brown shade of his hair and his skin's tanned tone. His bright green eyes scanned up and down his appearance, liking the way his face looked with that forehead protector.

Normally, he wouldn't be anywhere near as vain as he was being at current. However, he had a right to be. He was a _genin_!

Suddenly, the door finally opened, and a lazy face glanced out, a long needle clenched in its mouth. The face turned slowly down to look at Suzunaka, and it cocked an eyebrow.

"What are you so smiley about?" it asked tiredly.

"Notice anything different?" the boy asked, casting a smug look at him.

The young man looked the boy up and down, scanning him. After almost a minute of silence, he finally asked, "Did you cut your hair?"

Sighing in annoyance, Suzunaka reached up and flicked the metal of his forehead protector, releasing a loud pinging noise.

"Yes…?" Genma asked, tilting to the side.

"Uh, forehead protector?" Suzunaka said pointedly.

"Uh-huh," the jonin said, apparently not impressed. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm a genin!" the boy finally shouted, holding his hands out from his sides.

"What, did you think that I would be surprised?" Genma asked dismissively. "I've been telling the Third for the longest time that you should've already become a genin."

"Still, I thought that we could… I don't know… celebrate or something?" Suzunaka asked, looking up expectantly at him.

Genma sighed, and stepped back from the door. "Come on in."

Suzunaka followed his mentor through the threshold of his messy house. It was in complete disarray, with books and clothes littering the floor. The jonin was simply wearing the blue jumpsuit that many of the village jonins sported, the heavy green vest which all ninja above the level genin wore not yet donned. Glancing over at one of the tables in the jonin's living room, Suzunaka heaved a sigh of annoyance. Splayed out across the table were several knives with rings attached to the ends of their hilts and star-shaped blades designed for throwing. Kunais and shurikens: the tools of a ninja. Genma was going out for a mission.

"It's not like I can help it," Genma said, seeing where the boy was looking.

"I know," Suzunaka shrugged. "Still, I wish you could be here."

Genma sighed, then walked over to his ninja equipment bag. He began sorting all of his scrolls and kunais into it, making sure to keep the two separate. "You know, you really need to start making some friends, Suzunaka."

The boy stopped at that statement, stunned. "Friends?" he asked, looking puzzled.

"Yes, Suzunaka, friends. You know, people your age who you spend time with. Doing stuff? Like, uh, I don't know, talking, training, eating, hijinks, those sorts of things."

"I don't like people my age," Suzunaka said matter-of-factly.

"Well, whether you like them or not," Genma replied, "you're going to have to start spending more time around them. Starting tomorrow, you're going to be on a team with two of them."

"Oh, right," Suzunaka muttered, looking disappointed. "I'd forgotten about that part of the whole genin thing."

Genma shook his head. "You know," he muttered, "I think this might be good for you."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, the only person your age that you ever spend time with is that Aburame kid."

"Shino?"

"Yeah, him," Genma replied.

"What's wrong with Shino?"

"Shino's not quite what you would call the normal kid your age," Genma replied, attaching the pack to the back of his hip.

Suzunaka watched in silence as his mentor finished getting himself ready, then pulled his heavy green vest on over the jumpsuit. The jonin finally reached down to the final piece of equipment on his table; a heavy bandana with a forehead protector attached to it. He put it on the way he normally did, with the metal piece facing backwards. Then he glanced over to Suzunaka, and shrugged, saying, "I should be back within a week, at latest. Try not to get into trouble."

"Alright," Suzunaka nodded, and then followed Genma out of the small house. As the older ninja locked the door, Suzunaka turned and glanced towards the sky. The sun was slowly setting, casting a glow of pink and orange across the sky. Suzunaka squinted slightly at the brightness, and turned away.

"Good bye, then," Genma said simply, glancing over his shoulder at the boy.

Suzunaka nodded, and then the shinobi disappeared, moving too fast for his untrained eyes to catch. As soon as the ninja left, Suzunaka let out an exasperated sigh, and started walking down the street without any direction.

Great. Now what was he going to do? It was no fun training all alone, and Shino… he didn't feel like talking with Shino. He wasn't sure why, but he only ever seemed to talk to Shino when he was in a competitive mood. The two were more rivals than friends, really.

Suzunaka glanced up at the sky. The sun had only just set; it could not be later than seven o'clock. It would be depressing to go to bed so early. But what else was there to do?

The boy sighed, and began walking towards the far-off city wall of Konoha. That was the place he always went whenever he was alone and had nothing better to do. Which was surprisingly often whenever Genma wasn't there. He could just go up to the wall, and listen to the wind rushing through the great forests which surrounded Konoha. It wasn't terribly exciting, but it was something to do.

_Wow, _the genin thought quietly. _Maybe Genma was right. I _do _need some friends._

Suzunaka continued walking, with his head down, and watched his feet touching the ground. With every step, he heard the soft, regular beat. Tap… tap… tap… tap… The sound drifted through his head, and Suzunaka quickly began tapping his feet between each step, making the sound a bit more interesting. Occasionally, he would drag his foot along the earth, for a bit more variety.

Soon, the young ninja was veritably dancing down the street, the quiet rhythm which his feet tapped out filling his mind completely. Sound had always fascinated Suzunaka, for about as long as he could remember. Always, any regular noise, beat, or rhythm would get him started, and then he would have to keep building upon it and building upon it until either he got bored and started a new one, or somebody got annoyed and yelled at him.

Nobody seemed to mind when he was just dancing down the street, however. Sure, a lot of people stared at him, but that was alright. They never payed any attention to him the rest of the time, so it couldn't hurt if they stared a bit.

Eventually, Suzunaka hopped, skipped, and danced his way to the great wall of the city, right next to the main gate. Not even pausing, the genin placed his next step onto the surface of the wall, and sent a few small waves of his chakra down to his feet. He felt that same tug he'd felt while casting the bunshins, except centred around his feet. Then, without thinking about it, Suzunaka continued erratic movement, going up along the side of the wall. Genma had taught him to do this about a month ago; walking on water, that was. According the jonin, he had a very good level of chakra control. Whatever that meant.

Soon, the genin was standing along the top of the wall, balancing there with very little effort. He had stopped his dancing, in order to close his eyes and feel all of the vibrations, the waves, the simple pleasure of the sound of a sea of leaves, each one moving, rustling, creating its own little current of sound. He sat slowly down, his eyes still shut, and opened himself up to it. Soon, he had created an image in his head, showing him every little current and stream of air vibrations running through the space around him. The sound was nearly intoxicating to him…

_Friendship…_ Suzunaka thought reflectively, considering the word. _Do I really need it? What's the use, when I have… this…_

He slowly opened his eyes, and looked at the sun before him, now no more than a sliver on the horizon. Burning, alone in that sky, more brilliant than anything any human would ever be able to create.

_Tomorrow,_ he decided, _I will meet my teammates. And they will see me for who I am. An entity, alone, untouchable, powerful. I don't need them. All I need is the sound._

With that thought, Suzunaka smiled slowly, and watched as the sun finally dipped beneath the horizon. Tomorrow would be an interesting day…


	2. Team Nine

The young jonin looked down from where she was seated, on one of the many tall watchtowers which were situated throughout Konoha. Her position gave her a very good view of the three genin standing below her, each one standing separate from the others.

Unlike most of the jonin teachers, Kari, assigned to team nine, hadn't arrived at the team selection to lead her team off. Instead, she had simply left the three young ninja a message to meet her at the village's south gate.

The three of them were a very motley crew. They were all of about average height, but that was where any similarities ended.

The one closest to her was actually leaning up against the large tower, tapping on the metal with a finger. He was very strange looking at first glance. Quite long brown hair fell down his back in a messy tangle. His bangs were pulled into two simple braids which hung on the sides of his face, each one with several beads threaded into them. The strange birthmarks he possessed on his face were the only part of his skin that wasn't dark; a pair of ice-blue upside down triangles at the the outter edges of each eye, looking mildly like icicles. He wore his thin green jacket somewhat untidily, open at the front to show a plain blue T-shirt. His pants were a darker shade of green, almost grey in their paleness. His sandles were the generic blue pair which many of the ninja in the village wore.

Glancing down at the reports of each of her new genins, Kari quickly identified this one as Suzunaka, the so-called natural chakra controller, according to Genma. Her fellow jonin always spoke about the young ninja who had become somewhat of a protegé to him. Genma had said that this boy's abilities even surpassed most genin already. Coming from Genma, this was quite a lot.

Shifting her gaze to the next of the three, her eyes met the tallest member of her group. Another boy, this one was dressed as quite the anti-thesis to Suzunaka. His clothes were terribly plain; a grey, zip-up hooded sweatshirt with no shirt underneath, and some old jeans cut off half way down the shins. His skin was darker than Suzunaka's tanned shade, being truly brown. His hair was of a darker shade of the same colour, cropped close to his head. Overall, he appeared to be an incredibly average ninja, aside from…

Ah, yes. She could see them, those two bags. The same type most ninja kept on the back of their belts, larger than average. He had one strapped to each leg just above the knee. Those were what made him quite the opposite of average. Gazing down at her reports, she nodded her suspicions. Hide, child of two of the greatest jonin in Konoha's history… and heir to the legacy, perhaps…

Finally, her eyes drifted over to the final member of her team, and the only other female. This one had been selected specifically for her team. She'd actually had to barter and argue quite a bit with the other jonin leaders in order to get her. She definitely stood out in a crowd, with her manner of dress. Instead of a conventional shirt, she simply used an incredibly long and wide piece of white fabric, wrapped again and again from over one shoulder to under the opposite arm, and clipped in at the back. Her pants appeared incredibly odd, being a very dark red colour. The outside of the legs were actually longer than the inside, so that when she stood with her legs together they made a small triangle of visible skin. Her skin was very average toned, not pale, but note terribly tanned either. Her black hair was shorter than most girls', only going down to the nape of her neck.

It was her eyes, however, which drew the most attention. At first glance, there wasn't anything odd about them. However, when one actually looked at them for any amount of time, it became apparently that the eyes' colour was constantly changing very subtly. It was never very noticeable, but there was always that slight shift taking place. Shitana, youngest daughter of the Kasiju clan, and inheritant of the gengan.

Grinning, Kari decided that it was high time that she make her presence known.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………...

"Where _is _she?" the other boy said, grinding his foot into the ground with annoyance. "I mean, how long ago was she supposed to be here?"

"Thirty-six minutes, forty-two seconds," Suzunaka stated aloud.

The other boy glanced over at him, one eyebrow raised. "You've been counting?"

"Yes," Suzunaka replied simply.

"Oh…" the boy muttered, turning away.

Suzunaka grinned. He liked this guy. He would be fun to mess around with. That girl though… He glanced over at her again. It was so hard to look at her! Not in an offensive way, but simply because of those bloody eyes! How was she doing that? She hadn't said a word since they'd all met back in the classroom, which made Suzunaka uneasy. He needed to hear her voice in order to judge her. Without sound, she seemed somehow… empty.

"I'm sorry about that," a voice said from several feet away from them. All three turned quickly in surprise to find a female jonin standing before them. "My name is Kari."

Suzunaka sized her up slowly. She was dressed terribly averagely. The normal blue jumpsuit and green vest which most ninja ranked higher than genin wore. Her hair was a very light shade of brown, and tied back into a tight ponytail. Despite this normal appearance, Suzunaka instantly understood how good she was. He hadn't even heard the slightest sound of her approach…

"What were you doing?" the other boy demanded. "Some of us have better things to do with our time!"

"One of those people being you, Hide?" the girl asked sarcastically, speaking for the first time. Suzunaka glanced over to her, seeing that she had gotten up from her crouching position and was now standing quite straight facing them. Apparently, she and the boy knew each other… but of course, Suzunaka reflected, that was to be expected. Most of the kids in his class seemed to know each other's names. He'd never really bothered.

"Yes, I actually do have something I'd like to get to…" he replied slowly.

"Like what? That crossword puzzle you've been working on since you were five?" she asked innocently. "Oh, by the by, five down is 'moo'."

"Funny _and _original," he laughed, shaking his head. "And yet, still completely annoying, Shita."

"That's Shitana!" she growled at him threateningly.

"Well!" the jonin said quite loudly, bringing their attention back to her. "While it seems like you're all getting along so well already, I thought it might be a good idea to just sit down and introduce ourselves to each other!"

Shitana and Hide both flashed her looks which clearly said, 'Do we have to?'

Her oral response was, "But of course, if you don't want to, we can skip that part and just go straight ahead with the training regiment I've planned out…" She let her words hang on the air, glancing around at all three. When she saw that nobody was quite keen on this idea, she nodded, and said, "That's what I thought. So, how about you guys just tell us… hmm… your name, something you like, and what your dream is. Who wants to go first?"

Silence reigned over the area as all three of the genin simply stared back at her. Sighing, she muttered, "Alright, I guess I'll start. Hello, my name is Karimi Zuya, though you can call me Kari. Or, to be more specific, Kari-sensei. I like… hmm… I guess…" she paused, looking up into space for a moment, before continuing. "I like the sky. And my dreams…? I've already fulfilled most of them. Hopefully to die in my late forties before I can get too old on some sort of suicidal mission." She grinned at them. "Who's next?" When nobody replied, she shook her head, muttering something about initiative, and then pointed at Suzunaka. "How about you?"

"Alright," the boy shrugged. "My name is Suzunaka. Just Suzunaka. I like noise, and… no dreams that I can think of."

"None?"

"No, I don't really dream," he said simply, shrugging again.

"Alright," Kari muttered, glancing him up and down. She turned her attention to the left of him, to Shitana. "How about you?"

"I'm Shitana Kasiju. I like it when people keep out of my way, and my dream..." she laughed a bit. "Is to beat my eldest sister one-on-one someday."

Hide snorted, and Shitana glared at him, about to explode.

"Right, and what about you Hide?" Kari continued quickly, hoping to prevent another round of bickering.

"Well, you've ruined half of the name surprise now, haven't you?" he said, grinning over at her in a cocky manner. "My name's Hide Hohner, and I like wasting time. In the future…" he closed his eyes for a moment, as though trying to remember. "Meh, I've got a few plans."

"Anything specific?" Kari asked.

"No, not really," he replied, shrugging. "A little something concerning the Hidden Village of Clouds, but that's about it."

"Right…" Kari muttered, arching her eyebrows. Well, this was going to be interesting, she could already tell. So far, two of them looked about ready to kill each other, and one seemed quite content not to interact in the least bit with the others. _Well, Kakashi,_ she thought, _I hope that that trick you taught me will work._ Grinning, she said aloud, "Well, I have to go now."

"What!?" Hide and Shitana demanded as one, and even Suzunaka glanced up at that little statement.

"You just got here!" Hide yelled. "I mean, aren't we going to… I dunno… do something as a team, or something like that?"

"Oh, sorry," she shrugged, turning her back to the three genins and beginning to walk away. "I have work to do, lots of paper work for the new team. The three of you can do something if you'd like, but I'll meet you all tomorrow on the seventh training ground, at dawn!"

And without another word, the jonin disappeared.

The three genin were left standing there, simply staring at where their teacher had been a moment before.

"Well," Hide muttered after a moment, glancing over to the other two, "do either of you mind if we call it a day, then?"

"Gotta work on that crossword?" Shitana asked, tauntingly.

"Oh screw off!" Dorause replied. "Why did I get stuck with this team?"

"We're both asking the same question," Shitana replied, grinning and looking back to the other boy, "aren't we, Suzunaka?"

The boy jumped, and looked up at her. "Er, sorry, what?"

The girl stared at him with those confusing eyes, and asked, "Were you paying any attention during any of that?"

"Not much," he shrugged. "What were you talking about?"

"I'm leaving," Hide muttered, holding up his hands and rolling his eyes. "Sorry, I need to go contemplate why the world does cruel things like this."

"It's because it hates you," Shitana offered as he began walking away. She watched him go for a few moments, then turned to face Suzunaka, giving him a curious look. "Are you doing anything, then?"

"Not much," he replied, not really looking at her. It seemed more like he was just gazing up into the sky for no reason. "Why?"

"I don't know," she said, walking over to lean on the tower beside him. "I don't really feel like going home yet, and I don't have much else to do."

Suzunaka was quite confused by this. What was she trying to say? It was all very well that she had nothing to do, that was too bad for her. But what did it have to do with him?

As the silence wore on, Suzunaka was finally forced to ask, "Yes… and?"

Shitana sighed. "Nothing." She stood up straight and started walking away. "I guess I'll just head home."

She had gone perhaps twenty steps before, suddenly, she cried out, and fell to one knee. Surprised, Suzunaka instantly ran over to her. He stood behind the girl, not quite knowing what to do.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Something…" she gasped, and she looked up. Suzunaka gasped. Shitana's eyes, puils, whites and all, had gone totally black. "Something's not right."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Walking home, Hide kept glancing around at all of the streets. They all seemed strangely… empty. It was odd. At this time of day, the streets would normally all be bustling with people out about their business, or going to get something to eat. However, he hadn't seen a single person since he'd left Shitana and Suzunaka.

Sighing, Hide decided just to ignore it, and kicked an empty plastic bag which was blowing by. He fell grudgingly into his own thoughts. How the heck had he gotten caught in such a terrible team? There was Shitana the hothead, and Suzunaka the bizarre quiet kid.

It wasn't like Hide didn't have any friends. Quite the contrary. He was one of the more popular guys in the class. It just seemed as if… nobody he liked was on the team. He was very good friends with most of the other boys in his class, like Shikamaru, Kiba, Chouji and Naruto. However, all of them were on other teams. With the girls, he'd always gotten along with Ino and Sakura, and even that weird Hinata girl.

It just so happened that the one girl in the class who he, and most of the rest of the academy population, didn't like was on his team. She was always getting into fights with people, and, even worse, she was always winning them. He remembered the time that Kiba and her had come back to class after lunch covered in bruises and cuts. The two had fought, and it seemed as though the girl had given as good as she got. And with Kiba, too, arguably one of the best ninja in their year! She was just so… prickly…

And Suzunaka, too. Hide didn't have any problems with the boy, aside from the fact that he was just so… weird. And quiet, too. He never said anything. He always just sat there in class, normally tapping his foot or drumming the desk with his pencil. The only person whom he ever spoke with was Shino, and the bug user wasn't much better for conversation. And yet, dispite how admittedly stupid he seemed, he was always near or at the top of the class. The only person who regularly outdid him in classwork was Sakura, and with weapons training he tended to be comfortably above average with everything. He was just odd.

Sighing, Hide decided to take a seat on an empty bench on the side of the street. He glanced around at all the empty stalls and building about him, wondering once again where everybody could be. Even if it was a weekday, this wasn't normal. The emptiness made him uncomfortable. His eyes scanned around the entire street slowly, searching for any sign of life.

A sudden glint caught his attention, and Hide's eyes zoomed over to its source. As soon as they settled upon it, the boy cried out, then flung himself off of the bench, rolling and coming up to his feet as a kunai whipped through the space his head had been occupying a moment before.

Hide assumed a combat position, with his feet planted far apart from each other. He inhaled and exhaled heavily, his eyes never staying in one position for more than two seconds. Where had that kunai come from?

He saw a small flash to his right, and dove, getting out of the way of another kunai. He came up to his feet, but had to move again intsantly, the knives no longer giving him time between each throw. What was going on?

He glanced behind himself for a moment, scanning all of the roofs and shadows, but could find nobody. Growling in annoyance, he turned his face back to the way he was running, and saw the six kunais flying towards him. His mind knew that he wouldn't have enough time to dodge. Instantly, his hands flew down into the two bags at his legs, making metallic clinking noises as they did. He felt energy rushing through his veins, and tried to focus it, simply thinking, _Please, please, please!_

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Shitana?" Suzunaka asked, slowly taking a step back from those empty eyes.

All of a sudden, she blinked, and just like that, the blackness disappeared to be replaced by the normal shifty appearance. She gasped, and stood up suddenly straight, panting.

"Shitana," Suzunaka repeated, unsure, "what's wrong?"

"I don't know," she said simply, looking down at herself. She was shaking. For some reason, she was shuddering. "I just…" She looked up, and her eyes went wide. The next thing Suzunaka knew, she had slammed into him with a full body tackle, and they both fell over. Suzunaka was confused by this, until, over her shoulder, he just made out the massive shuriken which had missed them.

They hit the ground, and rolled over several times with the momentum. When they finally stopped moving, both of them simply remained where they lay for a moment, breathing very deep. Then, Shitana extricated herself from Suzunaka, and looked around at the area around them.

"Where…?"

Suzunaka suddenly yelled, "Get down!"

Figuring that it would be best to listen to him in this situation, Shitana threw herself on the ground, while Suzunaka slapped his hands together into several very complicated-looking seals. He finished by yelling, "_Ototon: Otodan no jutsu!_", and pointing at the space that Shitana had just been standing in.

Instantly, a rippling ran through the air, eminatating from Suzunaka's fingers. The energy seemed to build for a moment, then exploded outwards and forward, releasing an incredible roar. The blast of pure sound rocketed by where Shitana had been standing, and hit a large group of kunais and shurikens aimed for her. As soon as they hit the wave of sound, they scattered, flying backwards in all directions.

Suzunaka's chest heaved, and he fell back somewhat from the force of the attack. Panting from his now sitting position, he glanced over to Shitana, and asked, "Are you… alright?"

"Er, yeah," she replied shakily. She stood up very slowly, looking at him all the while. Finally, she asked him, "Where did you learn to do that?"

"I don't know," came the simple reply.

"Right…" she muttered.

The two of them stood their uncomfortably for a short time, gazing around themselves in confusion. Finally, Suzunaka whispered, "We should report this to the Hokage."

"Yes," the girl replied at once, and they started running.

The southern gate was actually quite a remote location. The principal gate for Konoha village was the northern one, as it was closest to the living quarters and shopping district of the city. The southern, however, was on the very outskirts of the suburbs, and thus, they would have a good distance to go before they would probably find any ninja.

As they ran, Shitana yelled out to Suzunaka, "You keep watch on the right, I'll cover the left!"

Suzunaka simply nodded his consent, and they continued going.

They ran for perhaps ten minutes without finding anybody. Quite literally anybody. It was as though the entire town was deserted. The two had to keep glancing to each other to make sure that they were still there.

Eventually, Shitana yelled over to Suzunaka, "Let's stop!"

They did, and Suzunaka gave her a questioning look.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, shaking her head. "Something just isn't right here."

"I understand," Suzunaka replied, turning slowly around to survey the area.

"No, it's more than that…" she said. Her breathing was becoming somewhat irregular, and her voice had a faraway quality to it. "There's something there… I can feel it… like dirt on a telescope or something like that… I… watch out!"

At her words, Suzunaka spun around in the direction she pointed, throwing his arms up in front of him as a barrier. Pain arched up from several points on his forearms as three kunais slammed into his skin, embedding themselves into the arm. Suzunaka screamed in pain, and fell to one knee. He took a deep breath to steady himself, then looked up in front of him.

Before him, there was an adult ninja. He looked to be in his late twenties, perhaps early thirties. He wore a simple outfit: a full green cloak which shielded all of his features, and a hood which covered his forehead protector. He was gazing down at the two genin with completely emotionless eyes, the way and eagle might gaze at two mice.

"What do you want?" Suzunaka demanded, gritting his teeth through the pain.

"Blood…" was the ninja's only answer.

The genin's eyes went wide with shock, and quickly he asked, despite himself, "Shitana, are you still with me?"

No response came.

"Shitana?" Suzunaka demanded, somewhat frightened now. He glanced over his shoulders, and yelled, "Shitana!"

She had fallen to her knees, and that same perfect blackness had returned to her eyes. Suzunaka stared at her in horror, and asked one more time, "Shitana?"

Then, a fist smashed into his chest. He wheezed, and coughed once, letting out blood. Turning his head back, he saw the green robed ninja standing directly in front of him, close enough that Suzunaka could smell his breath.

"You should worry about yourself more than her," he advised.

Suzunaka tried to reply, but stopped as another fist flew at him. He reached up and blocked it with both hands. Grinning, the other ninja used the genin's grip against him, and lifted him into the air with it. As Suzunaka hung there for a moment, the ninja twirled, and delivered a heavy kick to the boy's stomach. Suzunaka coughed once more as he flew back, and landed hard on his back.

His chest heaving, Suzunaka rolled painfully over onto his front and pushed himself up. Glancing up, he saw that Shitana was still kneeling down and staring ahead, completely unawares of what was happening.

Then, a knee hit him in the face, and the boy fell back again, crying out. He tried getting himself back up to a standing position, but another attack came in and knocked him off his feet again.

As her teammate continued yelling and coughing with the beating, Shitana simply knelt there, her strange eyes unmoving, unblinking. A few words escaped her lips, soft and tremulous in tone. "What's going on…?"


	3. Ambush

Light. Everywhere she looked, there was light. It flooded all of her senses so that there was nothing left of them. Just brightness. Terrible, terrible brightness.

Suddenly, images began flashing away in front of her. A summer sky. An empty street. Bodies on the ground. Blood on the path. A towering obelisk. A green robe.

Shitana's eyes suddenly focused totally and completely on this last image, of the ninja in the green robe, laying blow after blow upon Suzunaka's form. The genin kept trying to block, but he stood no chance against this master. He would rarely even be able to get up to his feet between attacks, and his cries of pain were getting weaker.

Before she knew what she was doing, Shitana's hand had closed around one of the kunais in her pack, and she had thrown it. The green-robed ninja stiffened slightly, hearing the missile coming in at him. He twirled away from his victim, and flung his right arm out. A shuriken flew from the sleeve of the cloak, and smashed the knife out of the air.

The ninja's problems did not end, however. Hot on the heels of her kunai came Shitana, running incredibly fast. She jumped, and grabbed onto the ninja's still extended throwing arm. Using it as a pivot, the genin threw herself in a kick at the other ninja's face.

Her foot stopped as the ninja's left hand curled around her ankle, killing all of her momentum. The ninja grinned at her from beneath the hood of his cloak for a moment, then threw her away from himself. Even as he did so, he threw a kunai after her, aiming for her neck.

Suzunaka, having finally picked himself up from the ground, reacted as best he could. Reaching over, he ripped one of the kunais from his left arm, and launched it. The two weapons clanged together in the air, and dropped to the ground with a slight thudding noise.

Shitana hit the earth, and rolled with the force of the ninja's throw. She came up to her feet standing next to the staggering Suzunaka.

"Are you alright?" she asked quietly, trying to keep her gaze on the enemy ninja while looking at her partner from the corner of her eye.

"Y-yes," he stuttered back, wavering slightly.

"Not bad," the ninja's low voice called over to them. Both genin turned all of their attention over to him, waiting for another attack. "The two of you are quite good. For genin. However," he grinned at them, and chills ran down both of their spines, "you're in no way prepared for fighting a jounin…"

A tiny sound from behind found its way into Suzunaka's ears, and he twirled, slapping his hands together in the same sequence of seals he had used earlier. He pointed, and once again, there was that moment of silence, followed by a dull roar. A dozen or so shurikens and kunais fell from the air, hitting the ground.

Shitana, having turned to watch him, glanced back to her opponent quickly, to find him nearly on top of her. Gritting her teeth, the genin ducked under a punch, then threw one foot out and around, trying to trip the enemy ninja. He easily jumped over the attack, and then brought his own foot forward to kick her in the face.

The girl cried out and fell back, blood flowing from her nose. She landed hard, and began pushing herself up through the pain. However, a foot placed on her stomach pushed her back down, and knocked the breath away from her lungs. She blinked confusedly at the green-robed figure, standing above her with a sadistic grin on his face.

He turned his attention away from her suddenly, as Suzunaka threw himself at his opponent with his fist bared. The green-robed ninja quickly ducked underneath the boy, then drove his fist upwards into his gut.

Suzunaka gasped in agony, and felt himself lift perhaps another foot up into the air. He hung there for a moment, before the ninja grabbed the wrist of his left arm in a firm grip, and whipped the boy around. He released him, and Suzunaka made a short flight which ended when he smashed into the side of a building.

Grinning, the green-robed shinobi turned to glance back at the helpless Shitana. Slowly, he reached down, and lifted her off of the ground with one hand, as though she weighed nothing at all. She stared at him, and it was clear, for a moment, that she was frightened.

However, a moment later, that expression was gone, replaced by a completely different one. Her eyes opened wide, and a strange calm covered her face. This placid look, combined by the fact that the girl's eyes had suddenly turned totally black, was enough to force even this clearly powerful shinobi to release his grip and take a step back in surprise.

What was even more surprising, however, was that the girl remained where he had held her, floating perhaps half a foot from the ground. The green-robed ninja stared at her for a good while, before reaching into his sleeves, and coming out with a kunai in either hand. Letting out a slight exclamation, he threw both of them at her, hoping to finish the girl while she was, apparently, dazed.

The knives whipped forward, and passed through Shitana. However, they left not a mark. Indeed, they seemed to travel through her as though she were not there at all.

Staring at the girl in absolute confusion, the green-robed ninja slowly took a step forward, and then another. Finally, he stood directly before her, staring the girl in the eye. He reached hesitantly forward with one hand, and passed it through the girl's head. Somehow, both hand and head managed to occupy the same space at the same time, and when he withdrew the hand, there was no mark.

"What…"

With that one word, the girl's eyes suddenly went from black back to their normal confusing colour, and she lunged forward with a punch. The unexpected attack hit the green-robed ninja directly in the jaw, and sent him stumbling back.

Shitana dropped to the ground, landing lightly, and glanced up at the ninja again.

He was still on his feet, rubbing his chin where she had hit him. For all that she could see of his face, he appeared incredibly confused. Finally, after a long moment of silence, he announced, "I hadn't expected this…"

Though her own feelings were perfectly mirroring those of her opponent, Shitana said nothing. She simply kept her eyes on the same place where his eyes would be if the hood weren't covering them.

"…it appears that I'll have to wait for you two until later. However," his grin reappeared, "with the two of you are here, then the third target is alone. Let's see how he manages…"

With that, the figure disappeared.

Shitana was left breathing heavily, and reaching up to wipe the sweat from her brow. She fell slowly to her knees, and placed her head in her hands.

"What the hell is going on…?" she whispered to herself.

A moan from behind her reminded Shitana that there was the matter of the beaten and broken Suzunaka lying on the ground. Slowly, she walked over to him, and kneeled by his collapsed form. His left eye was swollen over from one of the many blows he'd taken during his fight with the ninja, and dozens of other bruises and cuts covered his form. Both of his eyes were firmly shut, and his breathing was terribly shallow.

"Suzunaka?" she asked, not quite knowing what to do. Medical knowledge had never been her expertise.

"What happened?" he asked weakly, not opening his eyes.

"He left us, for a while at least," Shitana muttered.

"Why?" he asked, cracking his eyelids open slightly to glance at her in confusion.

"He said something about the third target, whoever that is…"

"Hide," Suzunaka said simply.

"What?"

"The third target is Hide," he repeated. "The first two targets, me and you, are both on the same team; how likely is it that the third target is the third member of the team?"

"Dammit…" she muttered, standing up straight and looking around. "Are you good to walk?"

Gritting his teeth, Suzunaka slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position. He let out his breath, then placed pressure on both of his hands, attempting to push up until he was standing. However, the moment any pressure came onto his legs, he wavered, and fell back to the ground. He looked pitifully up at Shitana, and shook his head.

"Great…" she whispered, looking around for inspiration.

"Just go and get to him," Suzunaka told her, shrugging. "I'll be fine here."

"And what if he was feinting so that I would leave you defenceless to him?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. " 'Ninjas have to look beneath the beneath'. First rule of being a shinobi."

"True," Suzunaka conceeded, nodding slightly from his position on the ground. "But that still leaves us with Hide fighting that man alone."

"…right," Shitana replied, exasperated. "If only we could just, I dunno, be in two places at the same time."

"Not quite possible," Suzunaka muttered, "though a nice thou- Shitana!?"

The girl had fallen to her knees again, that blackness returning to her eyes. Suzunaka was beginning to hate her for this. It was more creepy than before when she wasn't speaking. Shitana was slowly rocking forward and back, forward back, those dark wells focused on something far away which Suzunaka couldn't even guess at.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Hide stood, panting, the ground surrounding him littered with fallen kunais and shurikens of all sizes. The volleys had lasted for at least six minutes straight, forcing Hide to use every technique he had learned back at the academy, a few others which he had kept hidden, and still more techniques which he had been practising, and only now managed to pull off.

The new genin was slowly turning, making sure to keep his eyes moving every few seconds. In truth, he just wanted to lie down and sleep from exhaustion. That right, however, was completely denied him by the inconvenient fact that somebody wanted to kill him.

Possibly the most annoying thing about this entire event was the fact that he hadn't even managed to get a look at his attacker. The coward hadn't shown his face during the entire battle. How powerful was this attacker?

"Hide?"

Hide yelped and spun around, getting into a ready position to fight. He found himself staring at a confused-looking Shitana. She looked quite beat up, with dried blood crusted abover her lip, and several bruises on her arms. What was oddest, however, was the look in her eyes. On top of the normal shifting of their colour, there was also a constant shifting in perspective and focus, like she was trying to follow some incredibly fast moving speck of dust which was darting around in all directions.

"You got attacked too?" Hide assumed, trying to get his pride back.

"Yeah," she said, somewhat surprised. "Suzunaka and I just managed to fight the guy off…"

"Suzunaka?" Hide asked. "Where's he?"

"I-I don't know, I was just with him, and th-then…" she said, glancing around as though she were looking for the boy.

"What, you lost him?"

"No!" she yelled, looking back to him. Hide actually took a step back; she looked genuinely scared and confused beyond anything Hide knew. "I was literally just next to him a second ago, halfway across the city, and now I'm here!"

There was a moment's silence, before Hide whispered, "But that's not possible…"

"Well, it happened," she shrugged, "and now, we have to go and find him!"

"Why?" the boy demanded.

"He could barely move when I left him," Shitana explained, still using that terrible stare on him. "The green-robed ninja said he was coming here, but he might have seen me disappear and gone after Suz—"

"Wait," Hide interrupted, raising an eyebrow. " 'The green-robed ninja'?"

"Yes," Shitana nodded, "he's the one who attacked us. He's got amazing taijutsu, and his shuriken and kunai abilities are," she shuddered, "impossible to explain."

"I think that I already saw that," Hide muttered, glancing around at the many weapons littered about him.

"Yeah, I guess so," Shitana replied, taking in a long, shuddering breath. She placed her hands on her knees, and knelt slightly, trying to control her breathing, so that she wouldn't hyperventilate. She glanced back up at her partner, and in a totally different voice from the frightened one from before, she asked, "Uh, Hide, where did you get that chain?"

Hide glanced down at the chain which he had been carrying for the last several minutes. It was about as long as he was tall, twice over, made of normal links. He seemed surprised to see it for a moment, but then shrugged. "I had it with me."

"What?" she demanded, staring at the chain. "I think I would have noticed it if you were carrying a bloody chain around the entire time we were waiting for sensei back there."

"Apparently your eyes aren't as good as you thought," Hide replied, completely unable to avoid making one stab.

"Right," she muttered, shaking her head. She stood up straight again, and said, "Let's go. He should be in this direction."

They started walking, cautiously. Their eyes were on the rooftops, the back alleys, any side streets; in short, any place where the man could be hiding. Several times, one of them would think they'd seen something and panic, forcing both of them to start. However, there was never anything there, and it all just caused them to become more and more exhausted.

"I was just thinking," Hide muttered suddenly, causing Shitana to jump.

"What?" she snapped.

"How was he managing to attack me while fighting you and Suzunaka at the same time?"

Shitana stopped to consider this for a moment, but ended up just shaking her head. "Just another question with the dozens of others I've got right now."

"Such as?" Hide inquired, and they began moving again.

"Well, how did I magically appear right next to you? Where did you get that chain? When did Suzunaka learn to use blasts of sound? Where the hell is everybody? Wha—"

"Wait," the boy interrupted, glancing over at her. "What was that about Suzunaka?"

"Yeah," she nodded, almost laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. "He just started blasting shurikens out of the air all of a sudden."

"With sound?" Hide muttered, weighing things in his head. "I guess that at least makes sense, with him."

"It's true. I can't really see him suddenly throwing around fire or water, but sound? It—" she stopped suddenly, gasping.

Hide stared over at her, alarmed. He half expected to see a knife sticking out of her stomach, but, fortunately enough, there was none to be found. She had just fallen to her knees, shaking. Hide himself simply remained silent, not knowing what to say. He approached her slowly, staring on.

Suddenly, she looked directly at him, and he saw that her eyes had turned fully black. Her voice came to him from far away, it seemed, saying in a whispy little voice, "He's here…"

"What?" Hide demanded, spinning around. He saw the kunai headed for him, and jumped, throwing his right foot out hard. It smashed the small knife out of the air and flying to stick into the road up to its handle.

He stood there, glaring in all directions, his hands gripped tightly around the chain. Shitana still hadn't gotten up, which meant that he would have to cover her. Great.

He heard a whistling noise behind him, and spun. On instinct, he released his grip on the chain, and then grabbed it with his left hand closer to the end of its length. As soon as he saw the missiles coming in for himself and Shitana, he swung his arm, throwing the chain whipping around. With several metallic clangs, it slapped all of the weapons out of the air. Before the thing could come around and slap him, Hide threw his right hand out across, and stopped the chain about halfway along its length. The rest of the chain quickly wrapped around this arm, finishing up with a slight clanking noise.

The boy turned quickly, and found that the ninja was already standing behind him. He brought the chain up, held between his two arms, and blocked a punch with it. Moving on instinct, he twirled his left wrist, wrapping the chain around the attacking fist. Using this to keep his opponent in place, Hide lifted his right foot up and kicked out at the ninja's stomach.

The ninja, however, simply leaped slightly, and landed with both feet planted on Hide's extended leg. Then, he punched forward with his free hand, and caught the boy in the face.

Hide fell back, releasing his left hand's hold on his chain and freeing the other ninja. He hit the ground, and sat back up quickly, trying to get a good look at his attacker for the first time.

Shitana's very brief description had been accurate: he was a ninja in a green robe. Not much else to identify him by. The thing was done up tight enough to leave no other part of the body exposed, and loose enough to prevent any of the wearer's form to be seen. In short, the perfect garment for anybody performing an invasion.

"Hide?" asked a voice by his side.

Without glancing to her, the boy replied, "Yeah. Thanks for the warning. Are you good?"

He heard her getting up to her feet, brushing the dirt off of her knees. "Good enough to fight."

"Well," the green-robed ninja muttered, giving them an annoyed little glance. "Good to see that the two of you are alright. How _you _managed to get here so fast," he glared at Shitana, "is far beyond my understanding. However, the three of you are annoying me quite profoundly. Thus," he said in a business-like manner, "I have decided to destroy you. Now."

He lunged.

"I'll cover the left," Shitana offered.

"Nah," Hide replied, rubbing his nose. "That punch hurt. I'm taking a piece of him!"

With that, he threw himself forward. The chain started spinning on either end, without him even moving it, throwing up dust as the last links scraped the ground.

The green-robed ninja, seeing this, swept both of his arms out to the side, sending several kunais out in front of him. Without even a flick of his wrist, Hide's chain's whipped out in front of him, and picked off each one in its whirling links.

Just as the two ninjas were about to collide, Hide's chain swung out in front of him. It wrapped around the surprised ninja's wrist. Hide pulled back hard, trying to knock the ninja off-balance, and extended his foot out, preparing to kick.

The green-robed ninja, however, avoided this easily. He simply reached out and grabbed the chain with his free hand, giving it a tug of his own. This pulled Hide out of his kicking position, and flying face first at his opponent. The green-robed ninja, exactly as Hide had, extended his own foot, and caught the genin under the chin. Stars flew into Hide's eyes, and he shot up violently with the force of the blow.

The green-robed ninja landed easily, and, seeing as the chain was still wrapped around his wrist, yanked down on it. Hide, who had yet to release his weapon, whiplashed back down towards the earth.

The green-robed ninja suddenly looked away from his current foe, to catch a kunai thrown at him by Shitana. He attempted to throw it back, but the genin was already moving. She jumped over the weapon, and directed her momentum to bring her towards Hide. Knowing that he would probably break his neck if he hit the ground like that, she opted to tackle him out of the air instead. The two of them landed heavily in a pile, rolling over several times with the force.

As soon as they had stopped, Shitana jumped up, and turned to face the ninja. He was already coming.

Shitana's hands flashed, and suddenly, there were two shurikens flying towards him. The green-robed ninja found no difficulty in defeating this attack, simply sweeping out a hand and knocking them out of the way with his cloak. Gritting her teeth, Shitana prepared herself for another bout of pain with this clearly greater-skilled shinobi.

The fist came in, and Shitana ducked underneath the attack. She threw an arm up into the air to knock it out of the way, hoping that maybe she'd be able to knock him off balance and get an attack in like that. However, the shinobi would have nothing of this, instead throwing his leg out to knock her feet out from under her. The genin hit the ground hard, and bit back a yelp. Instead, she forced herself to roll to the right, out of the way of the ninja's stomping foot.

The moment that the foot hit the ground, a chain reached out and snaked around it. The shinobi glanced over at Hide, still on the ground, in alarm. The genin simply grinned at him, and with a slight movement, sent a wave down the chain. The shinobi got tripped up, and fell to the ground. Hide jumped quickly up to his feet, and attempted to slam his chain down upon the fallen form.

However, the green-robed ninja was already gone, without a single trace left behind.

Shitana pushed herself slowly up to her feet, and the two genins simply stood there, completely exhausted. It took them several moments before either could speak.

"What do you think that that was all about?" Hide muttered.

"Damned if I know," Shitana replied, coughing a bit. "But we should get to Suzunaka now."

"Why?"

"Now that guy knows that he's alone; he won't hold back on him. I doubt Suzunaka'll be albe to hold up for one more attack."

"Right," Hide replied, shaking his head. "Are you good to go?"

"Perfectly fine."

The two genins started walking, not having the energy to run.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Suzunaka had himself propped up against the wall of a shop. His breathing was laboured, but at least he wasn't falling over anymore. He had taken off his jacket, and was slowly shredding it and using the strips as bandages. He bit his lip for a moment, then ripped out another of the shurikens from his arms. A small splash of blood greeted him, but he quickly stopped it by tying up the wound, as tight as he could manage with just the one arm.

He stopped suddenly, and stood as still as he could. He had heard something. This time, he had definitely heard something. What was it…?

He heard a slight whistling, and Suzunaka dropped to the ground. A kunai slammed into the earth nearby, and he swore, trying to get back up. He sighed. This was getting incredibly old incredibly fast.

He glanced over to Shitana, but she was still in that odd meditative state. No help there.

Another whistling forced Suzunaka to jump backwards. His feet stumbled on the landing, and he fell back. He hadn't even hit the ground before a foot smashed down onto his chest. As his back slammed down, all of the air was crushed from his lungs.

He stared up at the green robed ninja, who was looking down at him with kunai in hand.

"Oh-"

The shinobi grinned, and threw his kunai.


	4. Counterattack

Hide limped along, cursing under his breath with every step. Oh, it hurt! How had he gotten involved in such a stupid situation within a day after he'd become a ninja? Most genin didn't even have to fight any other shinobi until the freaking chuunin exams. He wasn't at all ready for what this was demanding from him.

Shitana gasped beside him, and Hide turned quickly to glance over at her. She was staring ahead of her, mouth slightly agape. The boy followed her gaze, and quickly took a step back in horror.

The green-robed shinobi was standing directly in front of them, a satisfied smirk firmly on his face. He was definitely looking a bit more roughed up than he had when he'd first appeared. Dust and blood were smeared across the emerald fabric, along with a good deal of sweat.

He was holding one hand out in front of him, and clenched in it was Suzunaka's body. The boy's neck was cut, and his skin pale and white.

"I dealt you a favour, you know," the ninja laughed, shaking the body a bit.

Neither of the genins replied, simply staring disbelieving in front of them. It didn't seem possible…

"It was obvious that neither of you wanted him around, what with how you both deserted him so readily…"

"What are you talking about?" Shitana finally managed to spit out, staring at the ninja.

"_You_," the ninja said, pointing at Hide, "left him as quickly as you could, and showed no real interest in him until you realised your own life was in danger. And _you_," he turned his eyeless gaze over to Shitana, "used whatever power you have to leave him high and dry with your body to protect, and didn't even come back to check on him once! You were too busy with your own petty battle."

"That's not true…" Hide muttered, uncertainly, "we had to fight you off…"

"And after I had left?" he asked, grin spreading wider.

"We came for him!" Shitana yelled, but there was still a tremor in her voice.

"At a nice and leisurely pace!" the ninja scoffed, shaking his head pityingly. "If you were truly concerned for him, you would have come with haste. As it is, however…"

With that, he unceremoniously gave the body a slight push, letting go of it. Suzunaka's form went through the air to land heavily in the dust. Neither of his team mates moved, simply staring.

"So," the green-robed shinobi said, his grin disappearing. "What will it be now?"

There was quiet for several minutes, with no sound but the wind whistling softly through the streets. The dust kicked up, getting more dirt on the body lying in the street.

"I'll kill you," Hide growled, and lunged.

Instantly, four kunai were flying towards him. Hide's chain whipped forward, smacking three out of the air. One end of the chain wrapped around the ring of the last kunai, and pulled it back. Hide reached out, and plucked the weapon out of the air with his free hand.

The boy kept running, approaching his opponent at a furious pace. He drew back his arm, then launched the kunai back at its owner with all of his force.

Before the weapon had even left his hand, however, the ninja was gone. Hide stopped abruptly, staring about in absolute confusion. How could he move so fast?

"I'm right here," said a voice from behind.

Hide began turning, and felt something cold and thin touching his throat.

It dragged across.

The genin fell to the ground, blood splattering across the dust.

"That's two…" the shinobi whispered. He turned around slowly to face Shitana, who was staring on in absolute disbelief.

"You killed him…"

"Part of my job, you see," he shrugged. "If you had survived to be a ninja, then you would have had to learn how to do it yourself. But now you won't have to worry about that?" He grinned. "Will you?"

Shitana looked up, and saw that he had disappeared. Realising that he was doing the same thing he'd done with Hide, she dived forward, rolling as she hit the ground. She spun as she came up to her feet, and cried out. The ninja was standing there, and he had already thrown a shuriken at her. Knowing she'd never be able to step out of the way of the blow, she simply let herself fall backwards.

She felt the displaced air as the shuriken passed just over her face, twirling its deadly blades. Then, it fell away from her, as she went down onto her back. The breath flew from her lungs as she hit the ground, and she began coughing to fill them again.

A foot caught her in the side of the ribs, and lifted her several feet into the air. She flew sideways, into the corner of a shop on the side of the street. Shitana didn't have the strength to scream as she fell to the ground.

She looked up from her position, crumpled on the ground, to the green-robed shinobi, standing before her with a shuriken in hand.

"I guess this means that you fail…" the shinobi said, his voice suddenly becoming several decibels higher.

Shitana stared at the ninja. "No way…"

The shuriken flew, and with it, it brought darkness to Shitana's battered form.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"You fail," the voice repeated calmly.

Three sets of eyes opened at the same time, with three synonymous gasps going up. Suzunaka, Hide and Shitana all sat up abruptly. Each one quickly checked themselves for their wounds, but not a one was there. Finally, once they were sure that they were unhurt, they looked up, and around.

They were sitting under the shadow of the Southern Tower Entrance to Konoha village. Right where they'd been before the madness had begun. They looked at each other, and found the same wide eyed horror in each face.

"I _said_," the voice said, "you fail."

All three turned to the source of the voice, and found who it belonged to: Kari.

She was standing, looking at the three of them balefully. Her hands were held up before her, in the position used to channel and prepare chakra. Slowly, she lowered them down to her sides, and shook her head violently, as though clearing it of something.

"What was that?" Hide demanded.

"Genjutsu," she replied, glaring at them. "It was meant to place the three of you into a real crisis situation to see how you all reacted. And what can I say? You failed."

"How?" Hide yelled, taking a step toward her. He stopped as she pointed suddenly at him, fixing him with her gaze.

"You left both of your team-mates as soon as you could, and then recklessly attacked alone when support was being offered on _two _occasions. Fail."

She turned her gaze and her finger upon Shitana, who took a step back.

"You couldn't control your abilities, and abandoned an injured team mate with your body to watch over as a burden. This should've been incredibly easy for you to beat with your illusionary eyes. Fail."

Finally, she turned to Suzunaka.

"You couldn't care less what happened to either of your team mates so long as you were protected, and failed to muster up the strength to go after the one who was alone when he needed it. Fail."

She quickly turned on her heel, and said quietly, just loud enough to hear, "The three of you are the most pathetic team of genins I have ever seen. If you intend to become ninjas like that, then you have something completely different coming for you."

With that, she walked away.

All three simply sat there, staring as she walked away. Finally, long after she had disappeared from sight, Hide asked, very quietly, "What does this mean?"

"I think," Shitana whispered, not believing it herself, "that we just failed a test to become ninja…"

Suzunaka said not a word, not comprehending it.

"So…" Shitana muttered, looking over to the other two dully. "Is this the end, then?"

"I…" Hide stopped, shaking his head, then continued, "I guess it is."

"No it's not," Suzunaka whispered.

"What?"

Suzunaka rolled over, and placed his hands onto the ground. He pushed himself slowly up to his feet, stretching to get the cramps out of his muscles. Finally, he glanced back to the other two, and said, "It won't end here."

Shitana eyed him carefully, before whispering, "What are you thinking?"

Suzunaka simply asked in response, "What did she mean by illusionary eyes?"

The girl rolled her eyes as they shifted from pale blue to deep green. "It's the power of my clan. Whenever we're in genjutsu, we're supposed to be able to see through it, or at least manipulate it a bit from within. But I," she sighed in annoyance, "I haven't quite mastered it. Why?"

A sly grin crossed his face, and he said, very smugly, "Meet me here at midnight."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Darkness flooded Konoha, filling it to the brim. Aside from the occasional streak of yellow or orange cast by a lamp lit in a house on the path, the only source of light was the thin crescent moon. It was another windy night, much like many over the past few days. The unseen force pushed through the streets like cords, weaving between the buildings and carrying up dust.

Suzunaka could feel all of it, each small thread of wind and each gust as they carried the scant noises of the town up to him. He stood perched atop the tower by the southern entrance, hands limp by his sides, eyes shut, and head tilted slightly upwards. He would occasionally sway with the wind, understanding its strength.

One breath came to him, and he tensed suddenly, his eyes cracking open a millimetre. Slowly, he turned his head slightly to the east, and waited. The breath returned, and he grinned, nodding.

There.

Without another moment's hesitation, the genin placed his foot on the side of the wall, and began walking calmly down the side of the tower.

Shitana and Hide looked up at him as he touched the earth, the two braids at the front of his hair swaying softly. To their questioning looks, he said, "She's by the north-eastern corner of the city. Moving pretty slowly. Let's go."

"Wait," Hide demanded, staring at him. "You could _hear _that?"

"Of course I can," he rolled his eyes. "I do this for fun."

"How?"

"How should I know?" he replied, shrugging. "I've always been able to. How do you use a chain like that?"

Hide stopped, and gave him a strange look. "A _lot _of work."

"So you don't just enjoy wasting time?" Shitana asked, grinning.

"Well," he said, flashing her a smirk, "not _all _the time."

"If we're done with question period," Suzunaka muttered, "could we get going?"

The other two nodded, and the three set out with Suzunaka in the lead. They were moving quickly, and as stealthily as their training allowed.

At one point, as they were passing through a back alley, Shitana inquired, "So, what is your plan?"

Suzunaka looked back at her, and stopped moving. The other two stumbled a bit as they also stopped behind him.

"She seemed most displeased today by the fact that we didn't work together."

"That," Hide interrupted, "and the fact that she managed to beat us into a pulp."

Suzunaka looked at him with an expression which said, 'Are you serious?', and replied, "Three just-genins against a jonin strong enough to be permitted to teach? Do you think we even had a chance?"

Hide opened his mouth to reply, then stopped. He nodded, conceding the point.

"So, I have decided that the three of us are going to attack her tonight and, possibly, defeat her."

The other two simply stared at him for possibly a full minute. Then, Hide said, "Aren't you the one who just told us that there's no chance of defeating her?"

"No, I said that it _was _impossible for us to win against her when we had just become genin. Now we've fought against her once, and know about her style. I've already got a strategy that we might be able to use to beat her."

The other two stared at him as he reached into his pack and pulled out a kunai. Slowly, he crouched down, and began etching a figure into the earth. They watched as his plan slowly took shape, and as he continued, they found themselves smiling.

This might just work.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Kari roamed along the great wall surrounding Konoha, glancing occasionally out into the night. Her mind was more distracted than usual, considering what to do with her upstart team. Always thinking, wandering from all the information she knew about one to another. To be fair, the three should have been one of the more powerful combat teams for this year. Suzunaka, naturally intelligent and quite skilled all-around, Hide with the coveted chain-wielding ability, and Shitana with the ability to see right through a genjutsu, or even better, manipulate it to her advantage. There was only one problem.

The three of them had worked terribly together. They didn't understand the fundamental parts of being a ninja. Sure, if any one of the three of them were to take on one of the other genins, it would, in her opinion, be no contest. They would win.

However, that meant nothing if they couldn't coordinate and learn to work as a team. One ninja working alone was an incredibly weak and overall useless cell. Three working together? There was very little they couldn't handle.

Her ears perked up suddenly as she heard something from the buildings nearest the wall. She continued walking along as normal, but kept her eyes checking over in that direction, just for safety.

That was when she saw it.

Quickly, she jumped backwards, landing easily on the wall's rampart. Without a moment's hesitation, she reached into her pack, and tossed three shurikens out at the darkness, even as a kunai stabbed into the wall where she'd been standing a moment before.

As the three shurikens homed in, their targets broke from the cover between buildings, and started running towards her.

Kari's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Suzunaka was coming in a dead run towards the wall, while Hide and Shitana were each heading towards two different staircases which were incorporated into the wall.

Well. Maybe they could work as a team. Or at least plan as one. Now to see if they could _fight _as a team.

Kari clamped her hands together into a seal, and felt the pull of chakra from her veins. She let it flow quickly out of her, filling the air.

All three genin suddenly saw kunais flying for them, a cloud heading for each. Suzunaka quickly slapped his foot slightly hard off to the side, pushing himself out of the way. As the kunais passed by the smaller boy, Hide was holding up his chain. He had his hands right next to each other, right at the center of the weapon. Both ends began twirling incredibly fast, and made a perfect shield against the oncoming missiles.

Shitana, however, had more trouble evading her attack. Knowing it was not an option to simply dodge, she closed her eyes, and bent all of her focus on her chakra stores and her eyes. It took everything to stop thinking of the painfully sharp weapons coming in at her.

When she opened her eyes, they were pure black.

The kunai passed through her, and she blinked once, then her eyes became their normal, shifting colour again. She winced slightly, and bit back a cry as she felt one kunai which hadn't quite passed all the way through cut into the skin of her arm. It lodged there, just below her right elbow.

However, the three continued running. Shitana and Hide each reached their staircases and began taking them two at a time. Suzunaka, however, reached the wall, and began running up its length.

Once again, Kari's eyes widened slightly. So, he could already do vertical runs. And, from how comfortable he looked, he could probably also stand static. Very impressive. And the fact that Shitana and Hide had managed to hone their abilities so well in such a short amount of time…

Sighing, she figured that she might as well try out giving them slightly more of a challenge.

All three slowed in their steps for a moment as the stones in the wall before each one began warping and bulging outwards. They watched as the bulges reared up, and suddenly bend back slightly.

Hide's eyes widened slightly as he realised what was coming. "Slingshot!" he yelled out to the other two.

The three rocky protrusions flew back forwards again suddenly, their tops detaching and coming towards them at a furious rate.

Shitana found this attack far easier to dodge. She quite simply jumped up and sideways, landing on the wall's battlement. Then, she leapt forward again as the rock closed with her, landing on top. Without the slightest difficulty, she flipped forward off the missile, and landed running towards her teacher again.

Hide was about to pull a similar manoeuvre, when he saw Suzunaka's situation out of the corner of his eye. The smaller genin couldn't get out of the way of his faster rock, and had had to simply let go of his chakra, plummeting backwards towards the earth.

Gritting his teeth, Hide jumped off of the edge of the wall, aiming himself towards the other genin. His left hand released the chain, as his right pulled it close down to the pouch on his right hip. Instantly, chain links began flowing out of the bag, and connecting on to the ends of the already substantially long chain.

As soon as it was long enough, Hide whipped the weapon at Suzunaka, still holding on with only one hand.

Suzunaka, saw the object coming, and understood. Reaching out, he plucked the end out of the air, and held on tight, as Hide strengthened his grip on the chain.

Then, Hide gave an extremely hard tug on the chain, whipping himself downwards far faster, and Suzunaka back up.

The two passed each other in the air, and a wink passed between them. Then, Hide gave a quick salute, and plummeted to the earth far below. Suzunaka, now far higher than he had been before and out of the way of danger, planted his feet back on the wall, and began running.

With only two genin left, Kari figured that she would just finish off one, and then deal with the last at close combat. She turned towards Shitana, and slapped her hands together in a complicated series of seals. Once again, the cloud of illusionary kunais appeared. This time, however, every single one was focused on the girl.

As they came towards her, Shitana realised she would never be able to most of them, let alone all. So, instead, she reached over to her arm, and ripped out the kunai embedded there. Without a second thought, she launched it at Suzunaka, then lowered her head, and took the attack.

Suzunaka caught the knife, twirling around his finger, just as Shitana hit the ground, punctured with dozens of wounds. However, he was already one step away from the edge of the wall.

He placed a foot on the corner which connected the side of the wall to the small lip along the edge, and pushed off, rocketing several metres into the air. His kunai stopped twirling, ending in a stabbing position, and he drew his hand back for a strike as he came down.

Metal ringed off of metal as his weapon and the matching one of his teacher met, holding each other for a moment. Then, Suzunaka pushed back with the weapon, and spun himself in a high kick at her head.

Kari, very lazily, leaned back and out of the way of the kick, then lunged forward with her other hand, stabbing the kunai into Suzunaka's chest.

The boy looked surprised for a moment. Then, smoke enshrouded him, and he disappeared.

The jonin's eyes widened in surprise. A _bunshin_? No way they had planned enough to have a _bunshin _enter the genjutsu and then have the real version…

She quickly pulled herself out of the genjutsu, and turned. She raised her hand just in time to block a punch aimed at her by the real genin. Moving faster than the genin could react, she uppercutted him in the stomach, and lifted him into the air. Turning, she pulled him along, and slammed him into the stone on the top of the wall.

Kari grinned down at him, and winked. "Not bad," she admitted. "You hid yourself outside of the city, and used your bunshin and your friends to distract me in the illusion while you snuck up behind me. Good plan."

Suzunaka grinned right back at her, wheezing out, "Who said _they _were the distractions?"

For a record forth time that evening, Kari felt her eyes widening in surprise. Before the boy could say another word, she'd jumped up, and spun around, lunging forward.

Shitana and Hide were both coming at her, legs outstretched for a kick.

Without the slightest difficulty, Kari, ducked down, then reached up with both hands. She placed one on each of their legs, then spun them around, slamming them onto the ground on either side of Suzunaka.

After she had finished that very quick dispatch, Kari took a step back, and breathed very heavily for several seconds. She leaned backwards against the wall's battlement, and suddenly, she broke out laughing.

The three genin, laying on the wall in a good deal of pain, all simply remained there, highly shocked by the jonin's behaviour. Why was she laughing? They'd just come at her as though they were going to kill her in hopes of becoming worthy in her eyes again, and then she completely tore them to pieces in no time flat. How did this amuse her?

Finally, the woman stopped laughing, and leaned forward into their vision again. She still looked highly amused, and there was a bit of a waver in her voice from barely suppressed laughter.

"That," she laughed, "was potentially the greatest plan I have ever seen a group of genin compose in a long time. A _long _time."

"But…" Hide started, but couldn't finish. He started again. "But it didn't work."

"So?" she demanded, laughing. "Very few jonin would have lost against you, simply due to having greater skill and experience. Another team of genin, however…?"

"So," Shitana asked, raising an eyebrow slightly, "you're saying?"

"I'm saying that I'd be honoured to teach you three," Kari affirmed, nodding down at the three of them.

"Are you serious!?"

"Yes." Her face became more serious all of a sudden. "This will, however, be an incredibly difficult and dangerous road. Unlike me, others won't hesitate to kill the three of you. And I'm not even a particularly powerful jonin, however…" her smile returned, "if you still wish to become ninjas, I'll be at training grounds thirteen waiting for you tomorrow morning at six o'clock. Show up ready to work."

With that, she disappeared.

All three genin stayed laying there for several moments, staring at the dark sky. A soft rustling ran through the trees outside, filling their ears. In between the other two, Suzunaka sighed, then rocked up onto his feet. He stood up very slowly, then leaned forward onto the battlement, drinking in the noise.

The other two quickly joined him, leaning beside him. They were quiet for some time, simply staring out. At last, Hide broke the silence, whispering, "My mom will be wondering where I am. I'll see the two of you tomorrow, right?"

"Oh yeah," Shitana whispered, a soft chuckle in her voice. "I should get going now too, but I'll be there."

"Me too," Suzunaka nodded, though he didn't look at them. His eyes were shut, and he seemed to be completely immersed in the noise.

"Aren't you going home?" Hide asked, slightly surprised.

"No," Suzunaka replied, and didn't say another word.

Shitana and Hide looked over at each other, and a strange look passed between them. Finally, however, they were forced to leave, heading back to their respective homes.

Suzunaka, however, simply remained, listening to the noise.


	5. Help with Groceries

A soft wind blew through the village of Konoha. With it came the sounds of trees and several of their fallen leaves. It passed calmly through the streets, ruffling the clothing of the people on their ways home on a Tuesday evening. The sun cast an orange and pink pallet of colour across the sky, filling the streets with filtered light.

Genma walked very slowly through these roads, completely covered in dust. His skin was tanned, and there was a bandage wrapped around his right upper arm. A slight limp hindered his step even more, making him look more like an old man than one of the elite ninja of the village.

He stopped suddenly, tilting his head to the side. Then, he said, as though to the air, "Good evening, Kari."

"Good evening, Genma," the jonin replied, stepping out of the shadows of an alleyway and nodding, "and welcome back."

"Thank you," Genma replied, as Kari fell into stride beside him.

"What took you so long?" Kari asked, glancing over to him. "I thought your mission was only supposed to last a week?"

"Yes, well," Genma laughed slightly, a weak, wheezy noise, "_supposed to_ isn't always _does_. There're always complications, always things getting in the way…"

They walked on in silence for a time, Kari with her head down and watching her feet, while Genma simply continued struggling along. Finally, after several minutes, the male jonin broke the silence.

"So, what did you come here to ask me?"

"Can't slip anything by you, can I?" she smiled to him.

"I'm sure you could," Genma muttered, "you just aren't being too subtle."

"Right…" Kari replied, rolling her eyes. "Well, it's just… Suzunaka."

"What about him? He's not giving you any trouble, is he?"

"No!" she exclaimed, "Of course not! It's just… how much did you teach him?"

"Me?" Genma asked, raising an eyebrow. "Incredibly little. I just let him train with me. Why do you ask?"

Kari shook her head, and opened her mouth to say something. She stopped, and looked away, then tried again. "He's just… he learns things too quickly."

"You're complaining about this?"

"Not at all. It's just… unnatural."

"How do you mean?"

"Well," Kari looked over at him, and Genma could hear the incredulity in her voice, "how many ninjas in training have you heard of who could do wall walking before they even became a genin?"

"It's not totally unheard of," Genma offered, shrugging, "I mean, there's Kakashi…"

"Yes, but did even Kakashi manage to nearly master water walking after _a week and a half_?"

Genma stared at her, stopping in mid-stride. "What?"

Kari rolled her eyes, and held her hands up in the air helplessly. "I started off by teaching Shitana and Hide to wall walk. They're making good progress, too. They can almost run up the city walls without falling now. I figured that I would give Suzunaka a head start on water walking while they were doing that. I never guessed that he would actually even _begin _to get it before they were done, but now…"

They had reached Genma's house, so he unlocked the door and let Kari in. The two of them walked into his small kitchen, where the male jonin took off his pack and tossed it on the counter. They both sat down, and finally Genma muttered, "That's not possible…"

"I know," Kari replied. "You've been working with him longer, so I thought you might have some idea how it worked…"

"Well," Genma said suddenly, his eyes lighting up. "There is one thing."

"What?"

"Suzunaka's chakra is strange. Whenever he uses it, it doesn't simply stream to his hands for the seals and then release. It leaches out of him in waves, in all directions. It's helped to make him a natural chakra controller, in his own right…"

"That would explain his sound attack, then," Kari reasoned.

"Sound attack?"

"You didn't know?" she asked, surprised. "He has the ability to gather the sound around him and throw it in a concentrated blast at someone or something." Her voice faltered slightly, as she asked, "You never saw it when he was training with you?"

"No," Genma admitted. "The only jutsus I ever saw him use were the ones taught at the academy. He didn't even know a single attack jutsu."

Kari stared at him in dull surprise for a moment, before asking, "So, you're saying that he must have come up with that jutsu on the fly, without any preparation?"

"So it would seem," Genma nodded, sitting back in his chair.

There was silence for several moments. Finally, Kari whispered, "I think we've got a mystery on our hands."

"Definitely. Where is he right now?"

"On a mission with the other two."

……………………………………………………………………………………………...

A false sense of calm was upon the tall trees just outside the gates of Konoha village. The evening light seemed to suggest tranquility and peace in a way, not giving away the truth of the situation:

There was a hunt in process.

"I can see him…"

"Copy that. I've got visual too. Hide?"

"Spotted him. I'll cover the east."

"Alright. Keep in touch, just in case. The two of us will come in at him on both sides. You ready?"

"Roger. I'll give the signal. Over and out."

Silent as the dead, the two genin slowly approached their target from the south and north, taking slow steps. Soon, they could see not only the target, but also each other. As soon as they had eye contact with each other, Shitana motioned with her hand.

They sprang.

Suzunaka went in low, while Shitana attacked high just in case.

Their target looked up as they each jumped at him, and then leapt nimbly out of the way, no more than a shadow amongst the trees.

"He's heading west!"

"Shitana, throw me that way!"

As the two closed with each other, Suzunaka extended his arm, while Shitana reached out and grabbed it. She spun in the air, and released the other genin.

He flew with her throw, and sailed through the air. As soon as he had passed by their target overhead, he twirled around, and smacked his hands together in several seals. Finally, he called out, "_Ototon: Otodan no Jutsu_!"

All sound died for a moment. Then, the silence was replaced by a dull roaring which filled the area, and ripped several leaves from their branches. The target, shocked and frightened by the noise, spun around, and bolted off the way he came.

"Hide, he's coming right for you!" Suzunaka said, touching a hand to the radio attached around his neck.

"I'm on it," Hide replied, and then the genin was moving. "Shitana? Give me some warning on when he's coming."

"Got it. Approximately five seconds… now!"

Hide lunged out, seeing where his target was moving and angling himself in midair. The target hit him square in the chest, and Hide grabbed him, going down into a rolling scramble.

Both Suzunaka and Shitana had to rip off their radios as an ear-splitting scream rang out of it.

"What the hell was that?" Shitana yelped as the two of them ran towards where they had last seen Hide.

"No idea," Suzunaka shrugged. They reached the bush into which the two of them had fallen, and pushed through.

Hide was holding the black furred cat out at arms length, glaring at it.

"What the hell happened to you?" Shitana demanded, glaring at him.

"The bloody cat scratched me!" Hide muttered, outraged. Both of them saw the three, shallow, parallel scratches going from under his left eye all the way to the right corner of his mouth.

"How are you going to be a bloody ninja if you can't take a cat scratch!?"

"Well, it's not the fact that it hurts, really," he muttered, still eying the cat. "Do either of you want to carry this guy until we get him back?"

"I'll take him," Shitana offered. He passed over the struggling feline, and she stroked its head. The small creature instantly purred, and curled up in her grip.

Hide stared on at her in surprise for a moment, until she glanced up and flashed him a satisfied grin.

"Well, let's just get him back to his owner," he muttered. "But I could've sworn that team seven did the exact same mission a few days ago."

"Shino said his team performed the mission last week, as well," Suzunaka added. The two started slightly at the sound of his voice; it wasn't often that he spoke, aside from the occasional battle command.

"Right," Shitana said, stroking the cat again, "let's just get back so that we can get to sleep early tonight. Kari told me that she has a few hard labour jobs lined up for us tomorrow."

Hide groaned, and even Suzunaka rolled his eyes a bit. True, the life of a Konoha village genin was not quite as romantic as one would think. In fact, it was quite boring. Capturing the cat had been the most action-packed mission they had done as of yet. Mostly, they had been pulling weeds, doing groceries, picking up garbage, and other such menial tasks. The only fighting they had done since Kari had accepted to teach them were the occasional sparring matches between each other, with Kari always placing some sort of bizarre stipulation upon them. For example, no using ninjutsu, no using arms or hands, no blinking, and so on.

The three began picking their way through the great tree roots, trying to find a relatively unobstructed path back to Konoha. All the while, whenever they could, the three would try going up the sides of the trees partly, practising their wall walking. While Suzunaka generally just walked up these, Hide and Shitana would have to run, and normally would drop to the ground afterwards. Eventually, Shitana was forced to pass the cat over to Suzunaka after far too many close calls for the creature's comfort.

Finally, when they reached the gates, the three stopped, and Hide asked, "Should we try it?"

"You'll never get better if you don't test yourselves," Suzunaka informed them.

"Alright, then. See you on the other side."

With that, both Hide and Shitana took off at breakneck speed, straight for the wall. Once they were quite close to the structure, blue light began flying up from their feet with each step, increasing their speed dramatically.

"I should probably follow them, shouldn't I?" Suzunaka asked, glancing down at the cat. He mewed, and the genin sighed, then started running after them.

Hide and Shitana's lead feet each smacked into the wall at the same time, and then they were running upwards instead of sideways. Instantly, their speed began dropping, but they were still moving fast. By the time the two of them were halfway up the wall, Suzunaka had just placed his own first foot onto its base.

Beads of sweat were forming on the foreheads of the two genins, as they each pushed themselves to their limits. They would make it this time. They were sure of it. This would be the first time they managed to clear the city wall. Tomorrow, they would meet with Kari, and show her. Show her that they had grown, and maybe that they were ready for some slightly more difficult missions.

Suddenly, each one of them lurched slightly, at the same moment. Each of their feet had slipped, losing their focus on the chakra, and placing them, instead of comfortably stuck to the wall, hanging in open air.

They each hung for one terrifying moment, and they felt the sudden pull of gravity. Then, they were falling, the height giving them vertigo. Stomachs in mouths, the two of them plummeted, turning to look at each other. Even as they did, they each saw the rising form of Suzunaka, easily jogging up the wall by them. He didn't even look over at them as they passed him, simply going on up with the cat perched comfortably in his arms.

"You know," Shitana muttered, glancing over to her companion, "sometimes I really hate him."

"Agreed," Hide responded.

With that, each one kicked forward with one foot, hitting the wall. The force of the kicks sent them back, slowing their downward momentum. They each pulled a single, slow backflip, and landed in comfortable crouches.

"Honestly," the girl genin said, standing up and brushing herself off, "I can't stand this. He can do everything."

Hide shrugged, then rolled his neck slightly. "Well, at least he's on our team. I mean, imagine if he'd been paired up with some of the others?"

Shitana laughed, muttering, "Yeah, imagine him, Sasuke, and Ino on a team!"

"Oh, don't _even_ imagine that," he shuddered. "It scares me."

The two of them instead walked in through the main gates, where they were met by Suzunaka. He had already climbed down the wall, and was simply standing around, waiting for them. The cat had taken up a perch on his head, much to his apparent annoyance.

"Could one of you get him off?" the genin asked, crossing his eyes to look up at the thing. "He won't let go."

Shitana shook her head, trying her best not to smile as she grabbed the creature off of her team-mate's head. "How did he even get up there?"

Suzunaka simply shrugged, wincing slightly as she lifted it up. "Those claws _hurt_."

"Hah!" Hide exclaimed, "I told you! Even Suzunaka thought it hurt!"

Shitana sighed, stroking the creature in her arms. "I'll take him back to the Hokage, seeing as neither of you seem competent enough to pick him up. See you tomorrow?"

"It's not like we've got anywhere better to be," Hide replied, and Suzunaka simply shrugged, so Shitana turned on her heel and walked away.

They watched her leaving, crossing through the shadows and red light the evening sun cast throughout the street. When she finally turned a corner and was lost to their view, Hide turned to look over at Suzunaka.

"What are you doing now?" he asked conversationally.

Suzunaka looked over at him in confusion, as though he'd never considered the question before. " 'Doing'?"

Hide had to stare at Suzunaka for a little bit of time in order to ensure that he was serious, before going on. "You know, doing. Performing an action. What _action _are you going to be _performing_ after we leave this exact point in space and time?"

Suzunaka knitted his brow in concentration, thinking hard on this question. Doing? What kind of question was that? How did Hide expect him to answer. Eventually, the boy settled on an answer, and said simply, "I won't do anything."

Once again, Hide looked on for several moments before continuing. Was this kid serious? "So you're telling me that when you're not training or doing ninja work, you do absolutely nothing?"

"I listen," Suzunaka said, as though it were the most natural response in the world.

"That," Hide sighed, "is sad. Come on. You can help me do my groceries."

With that, Hide began walking away. It took several moments for Suzunaka to realize that he was meant to follow, and then he ran to catch up. The two walked on in silence for some time, each slightly uneasy in the other's company. The two of them felt so… foreign… to each other. It was the only word for it. They were each convinced that there were no similarities between them. Still, the silence was only getting more uncomfortable, so Hide went out on a limb and attempted conversation.

"All you do is sit around and listen?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow. When the other boy nodded, he continued, "To what? Music?"

"No!" Suzunaka shook his head violently, as though that were a stupid suggestion. "Music isn't _real_ noise. It's too ordered, too regular. That's not what noise is."

"Then what _is_ noise?" Hide asked, beginning to become interested in spite of himself.

"It's…" Suzunaka found himself at a loss for words. He couldn't describe the feelings he had. He knew what he wanted to say, but not how. Finally, he simply stopped trying, and said, "What do you hear right now?"

"Nothing," Hide replied, shrugging.

"Really?" Suzunaka asked, as though surprised.

"Yeah," the other answered. "I mean, it's just a street. Nobody's out. What am I supposed to be hearing?"

"Our footsteps," Suzunaka suggested. "The echoes they make off the buildings. The wind through the buildings. Anything."

Hide glanced over at the other boy quizzically. "You're quite odd, you realise that?"

"I revel in it," Suzunaka corrected, grinning over at Hide. Hide, for his part, could only shake his head in incredulity as they stepped around the corner, and headed towards a small market street. Several of the vendors were still out, though most were packing up, and several stalls already stood empty. Hide made a beeline for one stall, where a kind-looking and stocky grocer greeted him by name.

Hide listed off a quick series of different things he needed, and the grocer helped him find them along the several tables he had set out. When they were done gathering their things, the grocer looked up and saw Suzunaka for probably the first time.

"Who's this?" the man asked. He noted the forehead protector, and quickly added, "One of your genin partners?"

"Oh, right," Hide said quickly, "Sorry, I forgot the introductions. Mr Suoh, this is my friend Suzunaka. Suzunaka, Mr Suoh."

"Pleased to meet you," the man said, offering a hand. Suzunaka took it slowly, and shook it, as though he wasn't sure that the hand would eat him whole when given the chance.

Hide quickly paid the man, and then, he did something very strange. He reached up, and undid the forehead protector. He then handed it over to the man, who, in return, gave him a green apron identical to the one which he wore. The two nodded to each other, and then Hide grabbed his bags. On instinct more than anything, Suzunaka also grabbed a couple, and followed Hide as they walked away.

It took a bit of time before Suzunaka could recover from the shock enough to ask, "What did you just do?"

"Sorry?"

"You know, with the forehead protector thing?" he demanded, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, right!" Hide said, and suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "Well, uh, y'see, my, uh, my mom, she, uh, doesn't like me being a ninja, so, uh…"

"…yes?"

"I tell her that I got a job working for Mr Suoh at his stall. I leave early in the morning, come back late at night. It all works out, and she thinks that we get free groceries."

They walked on for a little while longer, Hide with his head pointedly facing away from Suzunaka. However, the genin had to ask, "What happens when she finds out?"

"'Scuse me?"

"What happens if your mom decides to go for groceries one day and you're not there?"

Hide shrugged, simply saying, "I'll burn that bridge once I reach it."

The two of them walked on until they reached a mid-sized apartment building. Hide walked over to a first floor room which had a door leading directly outside, and knocked. A few moments later, the door opened, and out stepped a woman, presumably Hide's mother. Her skin was the same dark shade as his, though her eyes were a surprisingly bright green colour. Her hair was shoulder-length, and pulled into dozens of complicated little braids.

"You're home!" she said, sounding worried. "Why are you so late today?"

"Sorry, mom," Hide replied, shrugging. "I had to clean up a bit. There was this stray cat that gave us a bit of trouble while we were taking things down. Gave me a good scratch, too."

"Let me see."

Hide waited impatiently while his mother surveyed the scratch on his face, and yelped once or twice when she prodded it. When she finally pulled back, he nodded over to Suzunaka.

"Mom, this is Suzunaka. He's a friend of mine."

"A genin?" she asked, looking Suzunaka up and down. "Risky job. Why do you want to have such a dangerous life?"

"I don't know," the boy shrugged, trying very hard to keep his voice casual. How could this woman _not _know that her child was a genin himself!? "It seemed right."

"Well good luck with that," she said, nodding to him. "Either way, let's get inside. I've started making dinner. You brought the groceries, I see."

"Yes, mom. Suzunaka helped."

"How nice of him," she said, taking the bags from him before he could stop her. "Well, it was nice meeting you Suzunaka. Good bye."

Hide turned to Suzunaka as she walked through the door, and winked, saying, "Thanks for the help, Suzu."

And then he was gone.

Suzunaka stared at the door for a while after he left. That was odd. Why wouldn't she want Hide to be a ninja. He seemed to be quite a good one, for all that he couldn't tree-run yet. But stranger still…

Why had Hide called him 'Suzu'?

He'd heard of people giving each other nicknames, or simply shortening their names, before. But normally it was only something people did when they were friends, or at least when they knew each other relatively well. So why all of a sudden 'Suzu'?

Suzunaka walked all the way back to his home thinking about this. There was only one possible explanation for it, but it made very little sense to the boy. Still, it was present…

Did Hide think of him as a friend?


End file.
